HMAS Adelaide will not be scuttled for the time being, after an 11-hour court hold on plans to turn the vessel into a diving attraction.

Protesters, worried that toxic or hazardous materials aboard might seep into the water, succeeded in temporarily preventing the scuttling. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which placed the hold, will choose another trial date later this morning.

Adelaide, decommissioned in 2008, was planned to be a diving attraction off Avoca beach, and hundreds of onlookers were going to be in attendance.